A current senior White House official is now reportedly a 'significant person of interest' in the Russia probe

US President Donald J. Trump listens to remarks from President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (not pictured) during a joint statement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 16 May 2017.

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Michael Reynolds / DPA / PA Images

A
senior White House official close to President Donald Trump is
now a "significant person of interest" in the FBI's probe into
whether Trump or his associates colluded with the Kremlin to
influence the 2016 election, according to a new report.

The Washington Post
reported Friday "the senior White House adviser under
scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president." Law
enforcement officials would not further identify the
individual.

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Several former Trump associates, including former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser
Michael Flynn, are under investigation by the bureau with regard
to their foreign contacts and payments throughout 2016.

Kushner also met with Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey
Kislyak, in December at Trump Tower with Flynn. Kislyak set up
the meeting between Kushner and Gorkov, according to a previous
report from The Times. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also
come under scrutiny for meeting with Kislyak during last year's
campaign, something he did not disclose during his confirmation
hearings.

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed a special
counsel to lead the FBI's probe into the Russia investigation
earlier this week, two days after The Times reported that Trump
had pressured former FBI Director James Comey to drop the
bureau's probe into Flynn.

The Times reported
Friday that during their meeting in the Oval Office last week,
Trump told Russian diplomats that Comey - whom Trump fired the
day before meeting with the Russians - was "a nut job."

"I just fired the head of the FBI ... a real nut job,"
Trump said, according to an official summary of the meeting read
to the New York Times by a US official. "I faced great pressure
because of Russia. That's taken off."